My following article appears in the Huffington Post: The arrival of the new American Ambassador to Australia was breathlessly welcomed by the Australia media pack in late 2009. Jeffrey Bleich, an American lawyer from California, assumed his position in Canberra and was introduced to the country through an interview on the public broadcaster ABC. After…
Showing all posts tagged Barack Obama
Another handy reminder of who runs the Middle East conflict
US Vice President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel has been, in the words of the Daily Beast, “disastrous“: Just as Biden arrived in Israel, the Interior Ministry announced the construction of 1,600 new housing units for Jewish residents in East Jerusalem, a move many, including many in the Obama administration, have interpreted as a deliberate…
This is what Palestinian resistance looks like today
Jamal Juma’ is the coordinator of the Palestinian grass-roots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and was released from an Israeli prison on January 12. He writes for the Christian Science Monitor: The Palestinian elected leadership is weak. And even with Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan this week, the renewed Middle…
Obama’s Democrats get some lessons how to fight the noble linguistic war on terror
Tell me this is a joke. Sadly, it’s not. Politico reports on US Democrats getting training to talk tough on terrorism (because supposedly Republicans are more convincing when they advocate for torture): House Democrats have found a way to address Republicans’ polling advantage on national security: Teach candidates a better way to talk about the…
Name me a company that isn’t trying to make serious money in Tehran
It’s like Iraq’s Oil for Food program all over again. This New York Times article is fascinating yet one wonders if any examples can be given of the corporate world not colluding with dictatorships in the name of making profits: The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other…
Getting tough on Tehran makes you a man (or woman) in Washington
How excited are the US Congress and the Obama administration to impose sanctions on Iran?
White pride, Rupert and the fun times together
Rupert Murdoch must be so proud of the movement he’s helped create: The US is facing a surge in anti-government extremist groups and armed militias, driven by deepening hostility on the right to Barack Obama, anger over the economy, and the increasing propagation of conspiracy theories by parts of the mass media such as Fox…
The neo-cons won’t die, they just smear everybody
Here’s how the American neo-conservatives – many of whom love Israel to death, including William Kristol and Liz Cheney – want people to view the Obama administration. Lawyers who defend terror suspects are terrorist sympathisers?
Violence is a means and an end: an interview with Mark Danner
My latest article for New Matilda is an interview with leading American reporter Mark Danner: Leading US journalist Mark Danner calls a spade a spade and examines the political value of violence in this exclusive interview with Antony Loewenstein Mark Danner has some unusual characteristics for a mainstream US journalist. He has published in some…
Secrets and lies between friends over Mossad murder
My following article is published today on ABC Unleashed/The Drum: Israel is a protected species in the international arena. Many Western states, including Australia, have long tolerated behaviour by the Jewish state that is condemned if committed by any other democracy. This reality makes the current scandal over the alleged Mossad hit last month in…